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X. Crossing the Seine at Vernon and Onward to the Liberation of Lille
Vernon and Lille

Order of Battle 43rd (Wessex) Division

129th Infantry Brigade
4th Somerset Light Infantry
4th Wiltshire Regiment
5th Wiltshire Regiment

130th Infantry Brigade
4th Dorsetshire Regiment
5th Dorsetshire Regiment
7th Hampshire Regiment

214th Infantry Brigade
7th Somerset Light Infantry
1st Worcestershire Regiment
5th Duke of Cornwall鈥檚 Light Infantry

I wrote home on the 23rd August 鈥淲e have been receiving a very warm welcome from the civilian population which surpasses any we have had yet. When we pass through a village flags are waved right and left and flowers thrown ad lib.鈥�
It was very apparent that the Germans were on the move back to their homeland. The Seine at Vernon was undefended but the bridge had been demolished and was being repaired. A start had been made to ferry the tanks across the river. The operation became difficult the riverbanks being too muddy for the tanks.
The news came that the bridge was sufficiently repaired to allow the tanks to cross and we drove over on 27th August. After a night of rain the morning was bright and the crossing made in the early hours. The Troop pushed on. We traversed high ground, a large open plateau with a road down to a valley. In the distance in the corner of a field there was movement. Ken opened fire with the Browning machine gun, to be answered by a white shirt frantically waving; they were French civilians caught up in the conflict. Luckily they had been out of range of the Browning. They gave information which way the Boche had gone; along the road and down into the valley.
We went across the field and when we came in sight of the road a horse and covered cart appeared galloping along at a furious rate. Ken opened fire, which resulted in three or four German soldiers tumbling out of the back into a ditch and opening fire. The Lieutenant, who was our tank commander on that day, gave the command to open fire with HE (high explosive ammunition). Ken fired a couple of shots at them and raked the ground with machine gun fire. We didn鈥檛 stop to see the result of the shooting, the soldiers being left to their fate. For all we knew they may have been wounded far from help in that isolated place. We took up a position overlooking the valley; it was packed with retreating columns of horse drawn vehicles and infantry. We opened fire with HE until we had run out of ammunition.
Our route now took us through country, which had experienced similar devastating destruction and carnage twenty-five years before; Amiens, Arras and the Somme; the enemy was retreating rapidly.
Our new commander, a Second Lieutenant, had joined the Regiment at Caumont. During an air attack he was wounded slightly in the rear and hospitalised for a spell. He was not a cavalry officer, nor public school, so did not quite fit into the image the troops expected. Unfortunately he became a butt for teasing by the men. His hat, which was rather large and stiff, came in for special attention including the odd pot shot with an apple if the range was sufficient to elude detection.
As Troop Corporal his first taste of a skirmish was at the end of August. We took up a position in a copse. In the distance the outskirts of a village could be seen, a factory building with a chimney surrounded by a wall with a large gate and fields stretching ahead. On our right of us was a wood with a meadow and a tall overgrown hedge in front. It soon became clear that enemy infantry occupied the wood. Ken opened fire with the Browning machine gun, which flushed out the Germans who ran along the hedge out of view.
The factory was also occupied. A figure ran across the gateway with Ken鈥檚 Browning in hot pursuit, but the target escaped as the range was too far. I suggested to Ken that he should have a go at the factory chimney. He loosed off a round of HE but to our great disappointment missed it. He relished his job as a gunner. He was not a believer in short bursts with the Browning but would let the whole magazine go in one magnificent roar with the result that the barrel would get so hot the tracer bullets would fly around in circles. The German infantry must have been thankful for his enthusiasm.
The Troop that evening took up a position in a village square. As the Germans were near it was to be an all night vigil. We parked in the square next to the village well with the gun trained on one of the roads exiting from the square. The infantry were deployed on the outskirts, tucked around the corner on the main road out of the village where they had parked their Bren gun carriers. We dozed off in the tank in our crew positions. A blinding white flash followed by an orange flame woke us up; figures were outlined in the glare running hither and thither. We learnt that an enemy tank had fired a phosphorous shell, approaching under the cover of darkness, scoring a hit on a Bren gun carrier.
I listened and looked to see what the orders would be, but the commander had disappeared from the turret. I dismounted from the tank with Cliff to look for him, but as it was so dark around the tank, couldn鈥檛 see very well and feared that in jumping out the Lieutenant had fallen down the well. He eventually turned up without an explanation for his sudden departure. At first light we evacuated the village and had a rest for a few days.
Quite predictably our new commander who was assigned the job of lead tank read the map incorrectly and took the wrong road. It was September 3rd and two Troops of tanks were to carry out a recce of Lille.
I wrote home on September 2nd 鈥淎t the moment of writing I am in an orchard enjoying a spot of rest and sunshine (it was hot weather and the roads dusty; the road to Lille was baked white under a strong sun). Since I last wrote to you the welcome we have been having has been very warm and sincere. The people wave their flags, which seem to have been brought out from the blue. They have most likely been made and hidden for the great day. It is a common sight to see people weeping and singing their National Anthem on top of their voices. If we stop food and flowers appear from everywhere much to our delight. In one small village the female population mobbed us and insisted on kissing the whole crew including the commander. In another place an old lady had tea already waiting for us and I had my photo taken with her pouring out a cup with the majority of the small place clustered around. We were lucky this morning; we stopped by a house for the night and lo-and-behold a cup of coffee was awaiting us when we woke up, then eggs - fifteen of them - were brought and bread and butter for our breakfast. More coffee mid-day then a terrific plate of chips to help our lunch along鈥�
After a great deal of instruction and counter instructions over the radio it was decided that the wrong road would be all right. We were the lead tank and cautiously nosed down the street to be met by a cyclist, his bike without tyres, gesticulating for us to follow him. As we edged down the road, windows of terraced houses were thrown open, people emerged from doors and soon the road was lined with dark sombrely clad figures contrasting with the all pervading white dust and brilliant sunshine, waving white handkerchiefs.
The cyclist led us on down the road, the metal rims of his bike bumping over the cobbles.
Eventually we arrived in the main square and parked in front of the Hotel de Ville. The square was filled with excited and cheering people. Members of the Resistance climbed onto the tank firing their guns in the air. Our commander popped down into the turret like a champagne cork, but in reverse, at every rifle shot. The tank was invaded by the local girls with bottles of wine and champagne.
The driver took full advantage of these heaven sent gifts and was very busy enjoying himself in the driver鈥檚 cab. I managed to get out of the tank and sat on the top of the turret with a long radio lead with my headset and tried to make contact amidst the hubbub. A member of the Resistance produced a piece of paper and written in English was 鈥楪ermans two streets away - come quickly鈥� and with great excitement, harangued me to follow him to where they were engaging a unit of German tanks. It was impossible to communicate with our commander who was completely distracted and in a panic due to the confusion, noise and gun shots. Without telling us where he was going, he disappeared.
The message that the Resistance nearby was engaging the Germans reached the hundreds of people in the square. They took off like a flight of starlings frightened from their roost; the cobbles exposed as the outgoing tide exposes the sand. A father and his young daughter held back and disconnected the German helmet fixed to the front of the tank. As they ran away to join the rest of the fleeing crowd, she dropped it and then ran back to pick it up. It would have been very unlucky for them if the enemy found it in their possession. The Germans came back into Lille after we had left and any house with a celebrating flag was broken into and the inhabitants beaten up. It was impossible to remain in the City without supporting infantry and so in the evening we pulled out.
Next morning, with the Troop Leader as our tank commander we set out to make a recce to the South East of Lille. It was a fine day, it was pleasant to be in the countryside after the crowds and excitement of the big City. We went across country and came across an unmade road. The main road was visible in the distance from down the track and we saw it was alive with retreating German troops and transport. Instructions were to recce, so from our hideout we watched the activity. Whilst we were stationary, unknown to me, two French refugees were engaged in conversation with the Troop Leader who was speaking to them from his position in the turret hatchway. Later I learnt that they told him that the farm buildings at the other end of the track were occupied by a platoon of German infantry. With time to spare and as I wanted to relieve myself, I peed into an empty wine bottle already part full from previous use, replaced the cork and opened the small hatch which was in the turret wall behind the gunner/operators seat, to push it out. Instead of falling to the ground it was gently taken from my grasp. I was indeed surprised and looking out of the periscope, saw the two refugees walking down the lane, one of them showing to his admiring comrade the present the British had given him for the information he had told the tank commander!
I wrote home on the 5th September 鈥淎 couple of days ago was the most momentous and impressive time I have ever had. The first British Allied troops to liberate a City for nearly five years鈥�.
On the 50th anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Lille the authorities produced a brochure which featured our tank being beseiged by the enthusiatic populace. French television interviewed me on the exact spot our tank had arrived in the centre of Lille with the same building as a backdrop

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